Paul Rudd scales up for Scott Lang
For Scott
Lang, there’s no shrinking from responsibility when it comes to family.
When we last saw Scott Lang in
Marvel Studios’
“Ant-Man,” he was trying to go straight for the good of his daughter Cassie. Now three years later,
“Ant-Man and The
Wasp,” which opens in Philippine
Cinemas today will reveal if Scott stayed on that path for the good of his family.
Paul Rudd, who reprises the role of Scott Lang/Ant-Man Hollywood’s latest super hero movie, reassures fans that Scott is still doing his best. But while the thought is full of hope, you never know what can happen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; there’s always a super villain out there who tends to bend things to their will.
When it came to stepping back into the shoes of the reluctant super hero facing the unimaginable, Rudd took on a singular approach.
“One of the things that I really like about playing this character is that Scott is thrown into these extraordinary circumstances of shrinking and flying around on ants and dealing with life-threatening situations,” says Rudd. “I’ve always tried to sustain his way of dealing with everything with a sense of humor and a carefree attitude. I think it gives an audience a fun ride to see somebody like Scott Lang take in all of this craziness. So, for me, that’s fun to play.”
From the beginning Rudd, who is also a writer on the film, and director Peyton Reed were in sync about the film’s direction, which mirrored their collaboration on Ant- Man.
“Ever since Peyton came on board we both agreed that we wanted to create something that was fun and original within this genre. First and foremost, laughs would be important but so would the emotional moments. You will still be wowed by the visual effects, but we’d also make them funny. I feel like we’ve always been on the same page as far as the movie we want to make, so that just allows trust for me as an actor to know that he’s getting what he needs.”
As far as the comedy moments go, they would indeed prove to be an important part of “Ant-Man and The Wasp,” and for Rudd having creative partners with similar tastes helped elevate the material in unexpected ways.
“Peyton and I like weird jokes, as does Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard and most of the Marvel team,” says Rudd. “They’re all comedy lovers, so it’s kind of nice to work on something where you can make a random Neil Hamburger reference, and the head of the studio knows what you’re talking about because nobody else does.”